Harrogate: a spa town with a great garden.

Harrogate, where to start?
Sitting here in the park, writing reminds me a little bit of what I wish Harrogate was like. It's sunny and warm, but not too warm. There are some nice fluffy clouds and a cool breeze. So all and all it sounds pretty good. I however didn't plan the weekend that I ventured to Harrogate very well.

I forget that I'm a pasty, fair-haired child that burns. I also tend to forget how great (and important) hats and sunscreen are. I am getting better with that. Especially since I got burnt when I was in Harrogate. In my defence however, I wasn't used to the sun being out here and I had yet to purchase a hat or sunscreen since you can't get a sunburn from rain. So now I'm all geared up with my sunglasses, sunscreen(suncream is what they call it here) and my giant hat. I am sitting on a blanket in a park (sort of in the sun when it's not hidden by the chilly clouds -I'm also wearing jeans and a cardigan to keep warm since it's only 18 degrees today) working on my blog and wondering how long before I give up and head back to make a cup of hot tea. It's nice though to go out and relax and sit somewhere green to work on something. I also brought a book incase I feel like reading. I did however leave my knitting at home since I figured it would be unlikely that I work on all three.

And as I ramble about my current activities, you are wondering what exactly does this have to do with how I wish Harrogate was really like. Well let me get a little closer to the point then. Harrogate was much warmer than today. Well into the twenties. It was more sunny and I'd never been there before so I didn't know what exactly to expect.

I'd heard of Harrogate. I heard that it was a spa town. I'd also heard that it was home to the original Betty's Tea Room (yes that's right another tea room that I'm going to go on about), and I had heard that my favourite wool shop had opened up a secondary location in Harrogate. As yes, and one further piece of information, I knew that there was a bus that ran from Leeds to Harrogate that I could take without having to deal with any mess with transferring buses and such. So, with that knowledge, on Sunday morning, feeling not so hot, I went on an adventure.

First part of my adventure involved finding the right stand at the Leeds bus station. I didn't know the bus number, I just knew that it went to Harrogate. Well turns out Harrogate isn't it's final destination so it took me some reading and some guessing to figure out which bus stand I needed. Second bit was finding out that my West Yorkshire bus card wasn't going to get me to Harrogate. I didn't realize that Harrogate is considered North Yorkshire (not all that far away it is) and that therefore I couldn't used my West Yorkshire pass to get there. Instead I had to purchase a ticket. Now that didn't bother me too much. What annoyed me was the rude way that the bus driver informed me. I dislike rude bus drivers. Anyway, I paid the 8 pound 60 pence and was on my way.

Being unsure what Harrogate looks like, how big it is or how many bus stops that there are I got off as i saw a nice green space that I could walk through once I knew (well was pretty sure) that I was in Harrogate. It was a nice little park that I wandered through.

The park that I got off the bus near was right outside the town centre. It was quite large and had lovely trees in it that look like they might be cherry blossoms.

 As I continued to walk through the park I entered an area with some overhanging trees. I really enjoyed the walk through this bit. I found it very peaceful and calming. The shade was nice too since I didn't have sunglasses on at this point.

From the park, I could see the city centre and decided that I wasn't ready to dive right in yet. Instead I went for a little wander through some of the residential areas nearby. The really neat thing about walking through those areas is that different streets have different historical stories. Although there might not be any of the original houses or building left for some of these have plaques which give passer-byes a little tidbit of information on the history of the immediate area or the street. It was really neat for me to walk by a normal looking group of houses that have been given a historical plaque. The funny thing is, this does happen quite frequently when in this part of the world. It does not get old for me. Not one bit. I think it is great!

Yes, another tea room.  

As I began to swing back around in my walk towards the town centre I found myself a cute little tea room. It was a bit too pastel for my general liking, however they served perfectly good tea with a decent fruit teacake (fruit bun) and butter. It was a good change to sit for a few minutes out of the sun and just relax before continuing on in my wanderings. 

There were a few reasons that I wanted to go to Harrogate. First, I had been told by many people that it is a lovely place to see. Since it is a spa town, there are baths and different relaxing things about the town which makes it a lovely place to be. Second, it is the home of the original Betty's Tea Room (yes another tea room, again). More on Betty's to come... And finally, it is now home to the second location of Baa Ram Ewe. 

Baa Ram Ewe! Great shop. 

Baa Ram Ewe is a yarn shop that is lovely. I absolutely love the Headingly location. I've yet to be to their stitching night, but I will get there yet. It's a lovely little shop that has a nice selection of yarns. It has a range of yarns from the cheap to the lovely but expensive. One day I am going to make myself a lovely and luxurious jumper and I've got the yarn already picked out. But by the time I'm willing to part with the money for my chosen yarn it might be discontinued, who knows.

Getting back to Baa Ram Ewe: in April they opened a secondary location in Harrogate. This is great because those who don't want to drive into Leeds, now there is one in North Yorkshire. For those of you who are still not in the general Yorkshire area, you're still looking at either online ordering or a very long drive. Sorry Sue.

As I tend to do, I wandered about Harrogate a lot while I was there that day. I wandered about the shops, about the estates (neighbourhoods) and about the town. I saw some lovely looking gardens planted in front of some fancy hotels and restaurants, like the one below that you can hardly see:

This is a better photo of the garden above. It is in the centre of a roundabout. It has a golden-coloured crown in the centre of the garden. It was placed there for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. It's a bit tricky to make it out, but you can nearly see the outline of the crown. The fleur-de-lis that you can more easily make out are a part of the crown.

I also found a hat shop! It's called 'Hats On Top.' Hehe, clever eh? These aren't the best quality photos, but you get the idea. There were tonnes of fancy hats.

Here are the Royal Baths. It is now a chinese food restaurant. 

This plaque is placed on the side of the building. It's no longer a baths at all. 

 As I continued to wander I found this bar. No, I didn't go inside of it. I felt no need as I was not after a pint or anything of that nature. The reason that I took a picture of it is because it has some historical interest.










There was a bicycle out front of it. With a little sign.


















For your enjoyment, I took a picture of the sign.






























Oh yes, the bar was historically important too.
Which, again, you can read for yourself. No sense in me repeating it...

Betty's Tearoom (yes, again, another)

So clearly I do have an obsession with tearooms. But what you have to understand is that Betty's Tearoom is special. It's  very important part of Yorkshire culture and history. I won't bore those who aren't interested, but those who are can go to this link to get the history lowdown: http://www.bettys.co.uk/About_Bettys/The_Bettys_Story.aspx

Rosti - I forget what kind

While I was there I was sat at a nice table in the centre of the tearoom and served tea with milk and sugar lumps on the side. Because I was alone, I was offered the Sunday paper to read and was given time with the menu. Their recommended special was the afternoon tea, which compared to some of the other prices was quite expensive. Now it did, if memory serves me right, include more than your standard tea, scone and clotted cream, but I was not looking to spend quite that much in my visit. I ordered a rosti of sorts. It was the first rosti I've ever had and I must say, when people in Yorkshire recommend Betty's to you, trust them - it's amazing.

For dessert I had a simple fruit tart. Yum! It was nothing fancy, but it was still amazingly scrumptious!

After a bit of something for afternoon tea/lunch, I continued my wanderings. I found myself in a picturesque park. It was a lovely place to walk through. The sun made it warm and cheerful. There were many people about, walking, relaxing, playing football and laughing with family and friends. In one area it looked like there was also a wedding being celebrated. Rather than me continue to natter on, I'll leave the following pictures for you to peruse:

There was a wishing well. I was very thrilled. I now can't remember what I wished for so I can't tell you if I got my wish. I can tell you however that I was thrilled to have found a wishing well. Too cool!

Some cool carvings in the park:

And...a random plaque that I found interesting.

Final thoughts on Harrogate:

The place is amazing. Lots of shopping, lots of places to have tea, lots of pubs, and lots of park. I wish I'd taken sunscreen, a book, a blanket and a picnic. The food at Betty's was amazing, but I wouldn't have minded having a picnic in the park now that I know how large and lovely the park is. With all my wanderings around Harrogate, and with how sunny and hot it was, I should have been wearing a hat and suncream, as well as had a bottle of water with me to drink. Notes for next time I guess, because it's definitely on the list of places  to return to in my future.

Why not a cafe?

Tea houses versus cafes. What is so great about either? Well to be honest I've only been to two cafes in the UK, both in Edinburgh, so I don't have a lot of cafe reference. I did enjoy the two cafes that I stopped in during my time in Edinburgh, however they were two very different cafes, and both incredibly busy. I think the main difference between cafes and tea rooms is that they have different atmospheres. Both are very busy, but I've generally found cafes to be more noisy.

From what I've noticed here, cafes aren't as much as a 'thing' as they are in mainland Europe and North America (it could be that they are and I've just not noticed). Big coffee shops like Costa, Starbucks and Nero are starting to become a bigger thing here. From what I've heard they've just started cropping up everywhere in England and the UK over the last ten years, big chains that is, not little independent places. Now some people I've spoken to in passing and at work speculate that this could be because of the fascination with Americana. All things American here are fascinating, and occasionally looked down upon and hated, but fascinating nonetheless. You can't walk through a major city centre these days without finding some sort of American Sweet Shop. Ok, that might just be Leeds, but there is more than one of them which I think is crazy. It's a bit of a novelty, but the large coffee franchise has taken off. Starbucks here is just like backhome: overpriced and busy as heck. So if I'm on a weekend wander about the country side and fancy a hot drink, where am I going to stop really? It's not going to be an overpriced coffee shop that charges 3-5 pounds for a cup of coffee or a fancy tea. Heck no! I'm stopping at the quaint-looking tearoom that is going to serve me an afternoon tea including scones, jam and clotted cream while I sit at a quaint table in their quaint establishment -all for the same price of one beverage from Starbucks. Chances are it's also going to be more relaxed than a coffee house or a cafe too.

I found at the two cafes that I went to there was a very limited variety on the menu. Usually simple sandwiches (all containing mayo which makes them non-options for me) and soups. Sometimes, if you're lucky there might be a cold quiche or something on the menu as well. Now don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed my carrot, parsnip soup and hot chocolate at the Elephant House in Edinburgh, however it was noisy. It felt more like an eatery than a place to stop in and have a nice relax. That being said, I shared a table with an interesting fellow... and I digress.

Back to menu variety then. The menus at many tea houses I've visited have had a variety of things. Yes, a variety. Gone are the days where you walk into a tea house and can order only tea. You can also order, milk, coffee, expresso, hot chocolate and the really fancy ones also do milk shakes in the summer. In addition to scones with accompanying, fattening yummies, you ca also order, paninis, toasties, sandwiches, soups, sometimes breakfast, cake, and other goodies. Sometimes you can get different types of tea. And almost all of them serve it up on either fancy or quaint china (plates and such, not real china usually).

So why go to a tea house if you don't really fancy tea? Why not? Just order something else. I do the same thing every time I go to anything that resembles a coffee shop as I definitely don't drink coffee at all.

Almost every time I go a new place I end up finding myself a little tea room to sit and have a cuppa. It happened by accident at first. I needed a place to stop and look at a map and come up with a game plan. From there it has become almost like a hobby (although infrequent). Highlights of my tea house obsession so far:

Cooper's Cafe

Ok, so this is technically a cafe, if you must call it that. But I love the place anyway.  This place had only been open 10 weeks when I found it. Loved it immediately. I was just stopping in for a cuppa and a place to sit and found a gem while visiting Skipton!

Edinburgh. 

This was at Holyrood palace. It says cafe, but I'd say it was more like cafeteria style. It wasn't at all busy when I was there, but that could have been the time of year and day.

Hebden Bridge

 Look at this place. It's gorgeous. There are flowers everywhere. I might not have found this one on my own. The town crier told me about it. Great range of food on the menu too. http://www.tandcakes.com/

Afternoon tea anyone? 

Fruit scone with strawberry jam and clotted cream

Mmmmmm...mouthwatering. 

Skipton: Cooper's Cafe returns! 

Cute outdoors table right on the street! 

 It was so great the first time that I had to come back and bring a friend.
Clearly I'm very happy to be back at this little gem. Yes, even though technically it is called a cafe. I maintain it's more of a teashop....well maybe not if you see their menu. What was very quiet my first visit was absolutely booming my second. All of the tables inside were full. In full swing and now with support staff this place is a success!

Bowness-on-Windermere

 Great little place to stop. Since Bowness is a tourist town in the middle of the Lakes District there are tea rooms everywhere. In three blocks we found three! This one looked the best. It was really busy inside. We got the second last table outside. Luckily for me, it was also the table in the shade! Yes, I resisted the urge to take yet another picture of my afternoon tea.


So I guess perhaps I haven't been as picky about tea rooms versus cafes so far. Turns out I've been to four cafes, I've just been thinking of them as tea rooms. Who knew? I think it's just because I have been drinking tea a lot of tea. Well, when in England... Cheerio!

Ilkly

When you think of Yorkshire, what do you think of? Now answers could include Yorkshire pudding(haven't made that yet), white roses, pie and mushy peas (yet to actually eat mushy peas and will hold out as long as possible), and of course the moors.

The moors are a beautiful, wonderful and bit of a dangerous thing, dangerous because they go on and on. However I'm more concerned with the beautiful and wonderful part of it. Yorkshire is great because there is countryside everywhere. I get on a train into the city and half of my ride I see country side for. You take a train out of the city for ten, fifteen, thirty minutes and you can end up in the middle of nowhere very quickly. From the centre of West Yorkshire you can easily access Ilkly by train. Ilkly provides easy and beautiful access to Yorkshire's moors.

Now when one arrives in Ilkly it is a bit tricky to figure out where it is that you are going unless you've been there before. The Ilkly website recommends that you find a map or route booklet from a local bookstore. Well it took some doing to find a book store, but in the process I found a tea room. I have to say over the last several months I have become quite fond of tea rooms. They are lovely. There are so many of them that are so nice! This one started out nice and calm and quickly became extremely busy as the brunch crowd started to stream in.

 So the walking out of town towards the moors began.

And continued.

And continued some more.

Along the way I saw some pretty sights.


















Once again I am reminded of Miley Cyrus' song "It's a Climb." The funny thing is it's a good song, likely one of her best, if not her best. And yet it has so many applications to life.

















More climbing in my future...

Can you see it? Right there. I'm going there!

One of the many views that day.

Who knows what this plant is? I saw more of it in the Lakes District.

Cow and Calf Rocks. 

Even more impressive close up.

 Now just to be clear, the moors aren't a quick two minute walk outside of Ilkly's town centre. You do have to do a certain amount of walking to get there. If I recall correctly, it was about a thirty or so minute walk, mostly uphill, to get to. It's a great walk, but not for the unfit unless you're really going to take your time.

 Once you are there, and you have found the Cow and Calf Rocks, you discover that it is actually quite the popular destination. There are tourists everywhere. There is a car park for those who are afraid of a little public transport or walking. This allows people to come from all over to wander the moors and hopefully not get lost, have a pint or a meal at the nearby Cow and Calf pub, which I understand is very popular. I did not call in as I didn't have the time and went back via a different route. The Cow and Calf Rocks are also a very popular destination for adventurers who enjoy climbing. There were people doing free climbing as well as your more traditional rock climbing with ropes and protection.

Many people like to climb them. I could not -far too frightened of heights. 

 I didn't really get very far in my climbing. My fear of heights and wondering how on earth I would get down, or what it would feel like if I fell, prevented me from getting too high up. I walked around. Just to give you an idea of how massive and impressive the rocks were I had my picture taken beside one of the more colourful ones. They are amazing. It reminded me of...well I'm not sure really, but if you think about how old these rocks are, as well as how massive they are it's quite humbling. That and they just look really cool.

Look how small and insignificant I am compared to this rock. You can only see part of it as it is!

By walking around, I did reach the top of the rocks. Up there I was greeted by an amazing view. I wanted to sit there forever. But there was still far too much walking for me to do and moors for me to see. Not to mention more wind to brave.

 When you head out into the moors you continue heading uphill. As you hike the moors its like you never start going uphill. You begin to go downhill again as you head back out to head into Ilkly-proper again.

 As my hiking buddy and I continued our trek through the moors, we came across an interesting little construction. There is a little corner built just off the side of the walking path.

 The corner stone of the seat reads, 'Stanza stone poetry walk.' We sat there for a little bit. It was peaceful. You get a chance to sit and relax, be a little sheltered from the wind and just listen. It calm and quiet.

 After a little rest in poetry corner, we were back on the trail. Heading back into to town was a little bit easier than heading up into the moors. The views were just as great. After a while I started to get tired and just wished that I was home. To be fair that was after about four hours of hiking.

 This is actually a picture of Ilkly from the foot of the moors.

 There were some interesting things to be discovered in Ilkly other than tea shops and pubs and moors. I  found this little garden. It is the Millennium Gardens. It's quite neat. It's a bit of a maze around this little green space that sits on the edge of the town, just below the moors. Some of the stones have local businesses engraved on them. I'm assuming that means they are local sponsors of walks and greenspaces.

Here is another great thing about Ilkly, and much of Yorkshire as well, gardens and flowers are very well kept. It makes the areas beautiful. In Bradford you see it mostly in the parks. However, this nicely kept patch is just a little green space too small to be anything other than the little bit you see here. It's very close to being a round about  and that's about it. It wasn't a proper park, but it was beautiful

Would I go to Ilkly again? Absolutely. The only problem is that there are so many other gorgeous parts of the country to walk around and admire as well.